If an above the title star is injured and has to withdraw from the production, there is the possibility that insurance would cover the premature closing of the production. That's essentially what happened when Tommy Tune broke his foot and had to withdraw from 'Busker Alley.'
If the creative time wanted more time to fix the material, they could simply delay the opening. The only time that critics have reviewed a show in advance of an actual opening that I'm aware of are for SPIDERMAN and a 1970s musical called SARAVA, which both pushed the accepted boundaries of the preview period beyond anything credible (SPIDERMAN had 182 previews / SARAVA had 38 previews in a time when most shows opened after 3 or 4 previews). SCANDALOUS could easily push out previews by another couple of weeks if that were their perogative.
Regarding whether the papers would actually post reviews if the show were cancelled; my guess is that most of the major papers would not. Producers do sometimes know in advance what a review is going to be from certain publications, and I've known of a couple of instances in which the papers agreed not to publish negative reviews upon reviewing replacement casts, at the request of the producers.
Not sure if any of that is at play in this situation; but it does seem likely that both performances today would have been major press performances given tomorrow's opening night.
Updated On: 11/14/12 at 03:22 PM
Maybe, that is the surprise?....
